Presently, most malicious software such as computer viruses, worms, spyware, etc. can be prevented from doing harm on a computer by running one or more appropriate preventative programs, often referred to as anti-virus programs, on a computer.
Over the years as the online world has expanded and become more prevalent, many forms of malicious computer programs (collectively referred to as “malware”) have become an increasing threat to computer and networking operations, user privacy, and has become, at a minimum, an inconvenience that users and organizations have to address more and more often.
To alleviate this growing concern and threat, many computers have two or more anti-virus programs that protect the computer against malware. For example, a user may have a program that protects against viruses and another that is specifically directed at detecting spyware. In many cases, a user may not be aware of what types or how many different anti-virus programs are running on the user's computer. They may have been installed over a period of several years as updates or new versions of programs were being released. Or users often install new anti-virus programs to address more sophisticated forms of malicious software without removing or de-installing previous or outdated anti-virus programs.
Operating system problems—such as deadlocks and freezes—can occur, however, when two or more anti-virus programs are triggered and executing simultaneously. An anti-virus program typically is activated to scan files, e.g., an e-mail attachment or a file downloaded via an FTP or HTTP protocols when they are opened. It is possible, for example, that one anti-virus program's scanning may cause another anti-virus program to scan and this later scanning may cause the original anti-virus program to scan again. This may lead to infinite loops in the operating system.
Thus, it would be desirable to have an anti-virus program that will prevent operating system and application execution failures, such as deadlocks that would otherwise occur when two or more anti-virus programs are executing on the same computer.